Get Out: Rain and fire on Goodwin Lake

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

By Matthew Irwin

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-We had just set up the tents at Goodwin Lake when the first drops of rain began to fall. Hail came next, and in addition to wishing that we had collected and covered some firewood, I berated myself for second guessing reading materia for a full backpack. “You know better,” I thought. “Always bring a book.”
I couldn't sleep, and found myself thinking about heading back to town if the hail ever let up, but it was only getting stronger.

“At least, it's not windy,” my buddy Jamie said.
But he had a book, and then fell asleep easily.

The couple days before we headed up, a storm cloud had been blowing through the valley, occasionally flashing us with hard rain – not so much quantity that I didn't have to water the garden, but hard enough that I ducked inside. By Saturday morning, those clouds were still above, but I wasn't worried. Goodwin Lake, after all, is only a 2.5-mile one-way hike, the trailhead only about seven miles from town, just out the Elk Refuge Road, up the switchbacks at Curtis Canyon and, staying right, to the dead end.

The access makes Goodwin Lake and Jackson Peak summit, just above, a popular hike. The trail is moderate, steadily uphill, but not too difficult, and after the first mile, well-shaded. It's the first hike I took my lady on, with our new dog, when she agreed to move here from San Diego. And though I wouldn't say that the views caused her to instantly fall in love with the valley, she did go so far to say that, yes, she could find it easy to live here.

Since then, we return to the lake a couple times a year, me bringing my fly rod, because the trout practically line up – only the small ones though, 13 inches or so. The big ones float in the dark pools along the banks, rolling their eyes at streamers.

On Saturday, Jamie, Tom and I took the last parking spot at the trailhead around 2 p.m., and reached our campground by 5 p.m.

At the lake, the air was considerably cooler, the sun having disappeared behind the clouds, and with the tents set up, we headed out to find a location for the bear bags, but turned around because of the rain.

I kept looking out the windows, not ready to be holed up in the tent for the night. Jamie woke up to the thunder and growing intensity of hail hitting the tent.
The storm lasted less than an hour, almost as long as it took us to get the fire started with the few dry pine needles we were able to gather, as well as pages from Jamie's moleskin and Tom's persistence. Fortunately, the storm had been brief enough that the wood was not soaked through. Then, Tom pulled out his camping stove along with a full bottle of white gas, which would have been helpful, Jamie pointed out, when we were struggling to start the fire.

The next morning, we summited Jackson Peak, at 10,715 feet, which took about an hour, and provided views of Table Mountain, Sheep Mountain (the Sleeping Indian), Jenny Lake, and the southern end of the Teton Range up to the Cathedral Group.
Behind us, the sky was grey and moving toward us, so we decided to get moving, at least to get our tents packed and get on the move before another storm locked us in. JHW

photo by MATTHEW IRWIN
Goodwin Lake is easy fishing just below the Jackson Peak summit.

PERMALINK:
Get Out: Rain and fire on Goodwin Lake | Planet JH News Article: Sports & Recreation

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